


A Test of Motivations

by orphan_account



Category: Undertale (Video Game)
Genre: Alternate Universe, Angst, Family, Handplates, Lots of Angst, Some violence but I wouldn't call it graphic, Undertale AU, basically 900 percent angst, handplates AU, skelebros, why did i use the family tag this isn't a very happy family
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-02-08
Updated: 2016-02-08
Packaged: 2018-05-18 23:18:44
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,268
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5947099
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/orphan_account/pseuds/orphan_account
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Based off of Zarla-S' Handplates AU. Gaster decides to manipulate Subject 2's enthusiasm into something resembling competence and finds that perhaps Subject 1 could be manipulated just as easily. This could prove to be useful later.</p>
            </blockquote>





	A Test of Motivations

**Author's Note:**

> If you haven't read Zarla-s' Handplates AU, this will make next to no sense. Go indulge yourself in that and come back later!
> 
> I don't use Sans and Papyrus' names, so I hope you don't mix up subject 1 and subject 2. It's okay, Gaster probably screwed that up too.

The skeletons were completely enraptured by color. I suppose that to them, color was just… Emotion. The only time they ever really saw bright blues and oranges and reds were when the other skeleton felt something. The true lab was notably gray, the only colors to be found a dull gray-green and the dark brown of my coffee, so the skeletons revelled in emotion and the colors it evoked.

It had been a spectacle when they’d seen the color cube for the first time. 2 saw it first, and its eyes glowed a bright pink. 1 was so enraptured with the pink of its companion that it didn’t even see the cube. This was unexpected. Color was merely an annoyance to me, but perhaps I could channel their awe into something useful. 

It was mostly impossible to bait either skeleton; 1 was cynical towards any sort of treat and 2 was talkative and disillusioned to the point that it wouldn’t listen to orders. However, they were drawn to color like a moth to a flame. 2 had stolen my color cube in the past and manipulated it quite adeptly, so I'd come to the conclusion that perhaps color could evoke some form of intelligence in the skeleton. It was merely an experiment, one that could demonstrate that 2 was of some worth after all.

I just had to design the test. I sealed the exit of the lab with four locks and painted each one in bright colors, along with their respective keys. I then hid the keys throughout the lab and placed cameras where I saw fit. Next, I deactivated their force-fields and replaced them with a weak current of electricity while they were jabbering away in another cell. Finally, I returned them to their cells and acted as if I were going home for the day. 

I stood outside of the testing area and smiled. It was a crude security system-- far less ingenious than the door into the testing area, which was hidden under a bathtub, but perhaps I could reuse the locks as a way to block access to the elevator. There wasn’t much to see on the upper level but the thermostat, but occasionally the lab would rise a degree and I would lose my focus on my work until I’d fixed it. The thermostat was a gigantic, exceptionally well designed machine designed to keep the lab at precisely 68 degrees, and for it to accidentally rise to 69 was unthinkable. I had the feeling I was the subject of a prank, and if I heard keys jingling, I might be able to show the prankster something about common decency. 

Unsurprisingly, it was 2 who discovered that the force-field was down. Occasionally 2 kicked the force-field to test it, which almost always ended poorly, but today the skeleton was in luck. Or at least, it thought it was. 

“SANS!” It yelled. “I DID IT! I AM FREE!” 

I was expecting a lot of things, but not this: 2 ran straight back in its cell and grabbed its color cube, left the cell again, and ran straight to 1’s cell. It dashed inside and hugged 1, waking it, who had not been attempting to escape. 1 was usually the more intelligent of the two, but it seemed that 2’s persistence had won over caution in this circumstance. 

“YOU HAVE TO LEAVE WITH ME!” 

“will i get hurt?” 1 asked. 

“I’M NOT HURT AT ALL!” 

“but you’re stronger than me.” 

“IT HURTS LESS THAN A DRILL…” 2 frowned. “I THINK YOU WILL BE OKAY.” 

1 tapped the force-field with a finger and rattled his bones. “that hurt. i don’t trust it.” 

“BUT YOU HAVE TO! WE CAN ESCAPE!” 

“i doubt it. we don’t even know what’s out there.” 

“BUT WE SAW COLOR IN THE TIMELINE! WHATEVER IT IS, I KNOW IT WILL BE BETTER.” 

They saw color in the timeline? Strange. I didn’t like what that meant for me, but their vision of other timelines wasn’t to be trusted. It did seem to fill 1 with a bit of hope, though, as it prodded the force-field with a hand. 

“...i don’t know what timeline that is. it might not be this one. but… i’m willing to try if you are.” 

2 wrapped its arms around 1 in some sort of amorous chokehold, and 1 walked through the force-field. It seemed excited. 2 held the color cube as they walked through the corridors of the laboratory, wandering around until they reached the door. 

“THE WALL HAS COLORS!” 2 exclaimed, eyes glowing pink. 1 seemed shocked as well, but its eyes remained white pinpricks of light. Instead, 1 poked the locks with a finger. “IT’S JUST LIKE THE COLOR CUBE!” 

I’d forgotten that they had never seen a door before, and probably did not know how to open one, even without keys involved. The skeletons poked and prodded the colorful locks, but to no avail. “we have to keep looking,” 1 decided. 

The two explored for quite a while before 1 found a red key. 1 picked it up immediately, threw it across the room, and hid. “WHAT DID YOU FIND?” 2 asked.

1 rattled its bones, and 2 ran over to it. “it’s like the drill.” I was unsure of what this meant until I realized my drill was red, like the key. I was somewhat amused by this. 

“IT’S LIKE THE WALL!” It seemed that 2 was proving itself more adept than I’d anticipated. It grabbed the key and sprinted over to the door, 1 right behind it. 2 tried to press the key against the door, which was ineffective, so 1 took the key and inserted it into the lock. The two of them worked well together, but I noted that they would be hopeless on their own.

The two looked infatuated with the way the lock began to glow red. I supposed they would be disappointed when they discovered that the blue, yellow, and green locks glowed the same shade of red. I wasn't going to recolor the lights simply for their amusement. 

The two then split up and went on a hunt for the keys, finding the blue and green keys with ease. It was then that 1 began to yell, and 2 hurried over. “it’s the drill!” 1 exclaimed. 2 gasped and hid. “i don’t think it works right now.” 

“IT COULD START AT ANY SECOND!” 

“we need to destroy it,” 1 decided. 

“BUT WE ARE GOING TO ESCAPE! WE DON’T NEED TO WORRY ABOUT THE DRILL ANYMORE.” 

“but what if we don’t?” The skeleton looked sad. “this is all probably a test. we’ll unlock the door, and he will be there.” 1 was indeed adept. Dangerously so. 

“THEN WE’LL DESTROY IT. BUT I THINK WE CAN DO IT! WE CAN ESCAPE!” 

“ok, but the drill goes first.” 1 threw the drill on the ground, which did very little to harm it. The skeleton frowned, and picked it up by the bit. It twisted off and the skeleton jumped in horror. 1 regained its bearings and dropped the bit in a crack in the wall, grinning. I supposed it didn’t know that I had a collection of at least 140, though the one it had dropped was my personal favorite. 2 then picked up the drill from the ground and threw it across the room, cracking it. It was fortunate that I had 9 more. 

“ok. time to find the yellow key.” 1 walked up to my desk, picked up my coffee mug, and dropped it on the ground, snickering. I nearly snarled. I loved that mug. It was from a human research facility, which I found fascinating. I supposed it was okay, I had 3 more-- I did like to be prepared when catastrophes like these emerged. 

It opened the drawers in my desk, looking for the key, but it never found it. I had just turned to watch 2 when I heard it cry, “I FOUND IT!” 1 took a beeline to the door and 2 was right behind it, holding the key. I prepared myself-- I couldn’t let them actually escape, after all. The door opened, and one of them screamed. I suppose they hadn't been expecting the door to... well, be a door. The two skeletons emerged from behind the bathtub, and 2 peeked around the shower curtain, and I crossed my arms. 

“Did you enjoy your adventure?” I asked, smiling. 2 began to scream, retreating behind the curtain. “Don’t make such a ruckus.” I ripped off the curtain and threw it on the ground, attempting to pin the skeletons against the wall with my magic. 

It was then that my experiment took an unexpected turn. 

2 was pinned to the wall, surrounded by blue light, but 1 had completely disappeared. I dropped my arm in surprise and 2 was thrown into the bathtub. That wasn’t my intention, but I supposed it served as a good immediate punishment for its attempting to escape. “WHERE DID HE GO?” 2 demanded, standing up. 

“That’s of no consequence to you.” 

“OF COURSE IT’S OF CONSEQUENCE TO ME! YOU CAN’T HURT HIM! I WON’T LET YOU!” 

“Then you shouldn’t have attempted to escape. Come on, Subject 2. It is time for you to return to your cell.” 

“NO! I DON’T WANT TO!” 

“Subject 2, I am far stronger than you. It isn’t intelligent of you to disobey.” 

“I WANT TO KNOW WHERE HE IS!” 2 yelled. 

“Stop!” I yelled, slamming 2 back against the wall. I heard a crack, and it whimpered. “You are to go back to your cell immediately. I will search for Subject 1.” 

“Did he escape?!” 2 asked, eyes glowing orange. 

“Of course not. Subject 1 is weak. It would never leave without you.” 

“BROTHER, RUN AWAY!” 2 yelled. “YOU HAVE TO ESCAPE!” 

“It won’t listen to you.” Truthfully, I was in a sticky situation. 1 had no idea that there were monsters besides the three of us, and even if it did, it wouldn’t trust any of them enough to ask for help. However, there was still a chance that 1 could escape and wreak havoc, and I had to reassure them that it wasn’t a possibility. 

“PLEASE, BROTHER! I KNOW YOU CAN DO IT!” 

I dropped 2 onto the ground and sighed. The back of the skeleton’s skull was cracked again-- it was irritatingly fragile. Perhaps I shouldn’t have sped their development quite as much as I did. 

I picked up the skeleton and headed back into the testing area, strapping 2 onto a table. “I THOUGHT I WAS GOING BACK TO MY CELL!” 

“You were, but then you disobeyed me.” I felt like I was scolding a child with my words, but I remembered the human idea that one was to speak softly and attack with a big stick when dealing with others, and I suddenly felt more like a ruthless tyrant and less like a father to the skeletons. As I should be. 

“Where is my drill?” I asked. 

“I DON’T KNOW!” 2 yelled. 

“That’s unfortunate. I’ll have to use my saw instead.” 

“PLEASE DON’T HURT ME! I DON’T WANT TO DO THIS ANYMORE. YOU SAID THAT YOU DO THIS TO LEARN, BUT IT DOESN’T SEEM LIKE YOU ARE LEARNING ANYTHING AT ALL! JUST STOP HURTING US! I KNOW YOU CAN! EVERYONE CAN BE KIND!” 

“You have no idea what I am doing!” 

“YOU DON’T KNOW WHAT YOU’RE DOING EITHER!” 

Angry, I swung my saw into 2’s jaw and it broke off. It screamed. Unfortunately, skeletons do not use their jaw to talk; they merely move instinctively with the sound of the voice. “PLEASE… STOP.” 

“Everyone is depending on me to save them. If there are two casualties, so be it.”

“I DON’T KNOW WHO YOU ARE TRYING TO SAVE… BUT YOU CAN’T SAVE SOMEONE BY HURTING SOMEONE ELSE! THAT’S NOT RIGHT!” 

“That’s not what you seemed to think last week, when you blasted that innocent creature into dust in order to save subject 1.” 

2 began to wail. “I D-DIDn’T waNT T-TO HuRT I-ITTT!” 

“stop.” I whipped around to see subject 1 glaring at me. “i’m right here. i know you aren’t doing research right now, so stop hurting him. i’m the one who disobeyed.”

“NO, BROTHER! RUN!” 

“he’s right, bro. i can’t leave this place without you. no matter how long it takes.” 

2 began to cry, and its eyesockets glowed orange. 1’s eyesockets glowed blue in response. “PLEASE GO.” 

“i can’t. you need someone who will be nice to you. and... I do too.” 

“1, get in your cell,” I demanded.

“only if i can be with him.”

“I won’t stand any more of your disobedience! You will listen to orders!” 

“what are you going to do, saw me in half? i know you won’t destroy my soul. that would be way too nice of you. i can take whatever you dish out. just let me be with him.” Subject 1 frowned. “i know you need me to help heal him. you just don’t want me to think i can manipulate you. but if i don’t heal him, you can’t use him in experiments, and isn’t that just me getting exactly what i want?” 

Subject 1 was dangerously intelligent. 

“PLEASE, LET US BE TOGETHER.”

Subject 2 was dangerously stupid. 

“No.” I slammed subject 1 against the wall with as much force as I could muster, the back of his skull shattering. Subject 2 began to sob.

Whether I was intelligent or stupid, I was dangerous. And that’s all I needed.


End file.
